Pacific Bay Masonry, Inc v. Navigators Specialty Insurance Company

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

PACIFIC BAY MASONRY, INC., Plaintiff, No. C 20-07376 WHA

v.

NAVIGATORS SPECIALTY ORDER RE MOTION FOR PARTIAL

INSURANCE COMPANY, SUMMARY JUDGMENT

14 Defendant.

16 INTRODUCTION In this insurance-coverage dispute, plaintiff subcontractor asserts that defendant insurer violated its duty to defend in an underlying construction defect action. Because this order finds that information known to the insurer at the tender of defense could not foreclose that another subcontractor was responsible for the relevant damage, there was a possibility of coverage and the insurer had a duty to defend. STATEMENT Plaintiff Pacific Bay Masonry, Inc. (PBM) is a construction company that performs masonry work in the Bay Area. In September 2014, PBM entered into a standard form subcontract agreement with general contractor Deacon Corp. to perform masonry work for a new retail shopping…